Red-handed
by The Musical CC
Summary: One should always knock on the door before entering a room...on the other hand, one should always lock the door if they want privacy. Rainbow Snowcone. T for implications.


Most people are under the fake impression that, whenever someone's not much of a talker, they have nothing interesting to say. Sanderson Mansnoozie would beg to differ. Interesting stuff just so happens to be more likely to occur during the night-time, which happens to be his time of work. And it always is night-time somewhere in the globe.

The fact that he has a lot of work doesn't mean he doesn't spend time doing other things. For instance, checking on the other Guardians; he's the eldest of them all and, in his opinion, this makes it his responsibility.

But, surprisingly enough, Jack is not the one on top of his worries list, when it comes to his friends, no…the one he finds himself more worried and more often about is Tooth.

It's not like the Tooth Fairy's prone to trouble or anything, rather, she is far too responsible for her own good. The other Guardians would use the word 'Workaholic', but Sandy isn't one for such words. He knows it's hard for them to understand how he and Tooth feel about their work, a work that quite literally demands all of their time and attention. Even though they've seen him falling asleep whenever he has the chance and her still hurriedly whispering names and places to her mini-faeries even while meetings, they don't quite grasp just how demanding this is because they've only experienced it once, and for a short time. Him and Tooth? They've had the same job for _centuries_.

Still, despite how draining it is, they love it with every ounce of their strength. They love it so much they can't quite allow themselves to part from it, even for things such as resting or alimentation. And this is what worries him, because he doesn't need food as long as he can have some sleep every now and then, but Tooth does. She's half-sister of flight, half-human, so of course she needs the same things humans do, just not in the same measure, and the reason she's on top of his list of problems is she seems to forget this rather often. So it's her he visits most often, to make sure she remembers.

Oh, the irony.

Which brings us to this particular night, when he remembered he hadn't visited her in over a week and figured he might as well or she'd end up killing herself with exhaustion…

* * *

The Tooth Palace was busy as ever. Herds of little fairies flew over, next and sometimes almost through Sandy. But through the chirping he still realized something was missing, something he'd grown too used to listening that its absence was slightly off-putting: Tooth's voice directing her kin. A quick look around told him what he already suspected, the one directing the fairy armies at the moment was Baby Tooth, who spared a moment to quickly greet him in excited chirps before going back to work. The visitor floated around the continental pillars, hoping to find Tooth taking a small break in one of them, but the Fairy Queen was nowhere to be seen. He scratched the behind of his left ear pensively. Perhaps she had finally decided to take better care of herself on his absence? It wasn't completely unlikely, but he still found it hard to believe. He decided he'd take a peek in her quarters, just in case she'd collapsed from mere exhaustion or something.

Sandy floated along the rocky wall and into the Tooth's Palace former housing area, which consisted on a large group of small, richly ornamented huts and he came to a halt next to the one closer to the entrance. He didn't have to peek to know the rest of them were empty, they had been for centuries, but he still took a moment to stare around him, taking in on the general air of neglect and the silence of the place. The hut next to him had flowers on the windowsills some colorful feathers scattered around and the generally friendly and inviting aura of a beloved home…but the other ones were dark, solemn, cold and silent. His eyes wandered to the deeps of the cavern, where the only entrance from ground to the Tooth Palace laid. He knew Tooth avoided going there at all costs, and he knew why. He had once entered the Palace from there by mistake and discovered the walls adorned with hundreds of wood carvings of winged women, forever frozen in the act of taking flight, their proud, beautiful faces forever raised as if in an act of defiance, the pale moonlight outlining their features.

Sandy then understood that perhaps Tooth just didn't want to go to sleep because she didn't want to enter this place, full of sadness, regret and loneliness. She didn't want to look at the rest of obscure huts and know they weren't going to be occupied ever again. She didn't want to listen to the whistle of the breeze flowing through the empty cave from the ground entrance. She didn't want to catch the faint smell of wood it carried. Being the Guardian of Memories also meant she would never be able to forget that all that was left of a once great empire of warriors was her.

As he landed on the doorstep, a small, semi-melted icy design on the doorknob caught his eye. He rolled his eyes, a smile playing in his lips. Had Jack beat him to it, then? He wasn't sure whether Tooth had told him about her past…it had taken centuries for her to confide to the others about it, but he had the feeling Jack was different. The fact that, out of the Guardians, Jack and her were the most close in age terms, added to Tooth's natural charm made them become close quite quickly. By the time summer came and Jack had to retrieve to the nearing of North's place to avoid melting down into a puddle, her visiting and inviting him over to her work had become a common thing. Sandy often caught them racing for teeth during his rounds, Baby Tooth and the other fairies hot on their heels; he happened to find the sight adorable.

Perhaps Tooth had found someone who could help her overcoming her sorrow? Sandy smirked to himself as her turned the doorknob, thinking she probably had.

…well, so much for spiritual bonding, though.

It took him a few seconds to process what he was seeing, and if he were to ever explain it to someone else, he'd have to divide it as if in a charade game.

One. They were on her knitted nest-like hammock.

Two. Jack's slender form was propped up on his elbows over Tooth's smaller one and he was clasping her shoulders.

Three. One of Tooth's rounded, elegant legs was hooked around Jack's hip.

Four. His mouth was over her neck.

Five. Thanks to the moon, he still had his clothes on. Or sort of. Jack's hoodie looked like it would have come off a good five seconds later.

Upon discovery that they weren't alone anymore, both him and her all but jumped apart with undignified squeaks and red faces. Sandy managed a moment of agape seriousness before falling down, kicking and rolling in what, in any other person's case, would have counted as a fit of laughter.

"SANDERSON MANSNOOZIE WHATINTHENAMEOFTHEMOONAREYOUDOINGHERESPYINGONOTHERPEOPLE–?!" Tooth cried, trying to sound more angry than embarrassed and only managing to sound like she'd forgotten how to breathe between sentences. Jack looked like the only acceptable way out for him now was to become invisible again as he pulled his hoodie to a more dignified position. Between kicks, Sandy managed a quick 'You should have seen your faces" signing above his head.

"Well, I'm glad it seems so funny to you, but it's not!" Tooth huffed, finally remembering to make pauses between words "Not. At. All"

In all honesty, Sandy himself was quite surprised that he found the situation so funny. Had Bunny been the one to catch them during their little make-out session, he would have been steaming out of his ears for days. Heck, had North caught them, he would have probably cried tears of joy because 'They grow so fast' and proceeded to give them 'The talk', puppets and all. The thought made him wiggle around unceremoniously in another fit of silent laughter.

"Cut it out already, I mean it!" Tooth squeaked.

"I-I probably should—" Jack started, signaling for the door.

"You should go" Tooth completed, avoiding his gaze.

"Yeah, I probably—uh, you know—I'll just–" Jack Frost stammering? Oh, skies above, could things possibly get better? Unfortunately, not, because the winter spirit chose that moment to run out the door and fly the hell out of there. Sandy finally straightened up, still smirking knowingly. Above his face, the words 'Hubba-hubba' appeared before quickly being swatted away by an hysteric Tooth.

* * *

He'd had the intention of not letting the other guys know.

He really did.

However, during a reunion where both Jack and Tooth were being very unpunctual and Bunny just wouldn't stop mumbling about it, the temptation was too big to bear. When the couple –finally- flew into North's palace (And of course, neither of the other Guardians could help but notice how Jack's clothes looked a little, just a little askew) they were received by knowing glances, conspiracy winks and double-sense comments on the account of North and a very sour and unreasonable Bunny. If they knew what it was all about, they feigned ignorance pretty well, but Sandy caught them giving him dirty glances every now and then. He raised his glass to them and silently toasted for the new –or perhaps not so new, but newly discovered by most members of the team- couple.

* * *

 **C.C (a) the Author (a) and actual five-year-old.**

 **This is probably as far as I dare go with adult themes and these two.**

 **Feedback is welcome!**


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